Require employee, date, merchant, amount, currency, business purpose, cost center, receipt, and approver. Give each request a stable reference.
Set up an employee reimbursement workflow
Define receipt evidence, business purpose, approval, payment, and ledger reconciliation for employee reimbursements.
Published · 8 minute read
The short answer
- Require a complete request packet.
- Route policy exceptions to an owner.
- Reconcile reimbursement payments to the ledger.
Define the request packet
Check evidence and policy
Compare the receipt to the request and flag duplicate or personal charges. The IRS recordkeeping guidance describes why supporting documents should substantiate expenses.
Separate preparation from approval
The bookkeeper can check, code, and route the request. A manager or finance owner decides exceptions, missing receipts, and policy interpretation.
Tie payment to the books
Use the invoice intake workflow and document retention workflow to retain the packet and match the payment to the entry.
Review the first batch
Inspect duplicates, approval timing, account coding, and unresolved requests. Improve the checklist before adding another reimbursement channel.
Questions owners ask
Can a bookkeeper approve a reimbursement?
The bookkeeper can check the packet and prepare it. Approval should follow the written policy and stay with an authorized reviewer.
What if a receipt is missing?
Hold the request, record the exception, and route it to the policy owner.